The Way Described
John 14:1-6
Introduction
Have you ever noticed that in most cities, or towns or villages, there are no roads named after God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit?
As I begin this “Way to Jerusalem” series, I experienced a number of thoughts concerning roads, streets, paths, alleys, tracks, causeways, expressways, sidewalks, crosswalks, overpasses, and even, yes, animal paths. The world is crisscrossed with ever kind of path imaginable. And, every path must have a beginning and an end. So, is it any wonder that Jesus said to Thomas, (and the rest), in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”?
Many people enjoy traveling. Some cultures enjoy it more than others, while in some countries, certain days of the year are famous for millions of people traveling or leaving their homes and visiting distant locations such as their parents, their hometowns, or gravesites of ancestors. Every journey that is begun by these people follows a path, a road, a street, or more simply put it follows a way from beginning to end. Without a way there would be no arriving at the final destination.
There are three points in this message:
1. WHY do we need the way?
2. Why do WE need the way?
3. Why do we NEED THE WAY?
WHY do we need the way?
When God created man, He created man with a free will. Meaning, He created Him with the capacity to think for himself, to make his own decisions or choices. But, there was ONE stipulation. In Genesis 2:17, God told Adam, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
So much liberty was given to one man. There was no pain, disease, or death, and, man was able to SEE God in His true image and true form.
God told Adam, that if he was to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, that he would be dead in his dying. In other words, he would die spiritually and ultimately die physically, but while dying, he would experience the dying. Confusing? It shouldn’t be. God tells us that the way it once was, (i.e. no pain, no death, but most importantly, face to face fellowship with God) would cease.
God initially gave man the way, with a free will and we should never set up our free will against the holy will of God.
The Everlasting way (eternal life) was in man’s hands from the beginning, and now it is not. In order to claim it for ourselves we must follow His way!
Transgression against God has forfeited our right to our Maker’s favor and we have on our heads, His displeasure. But, not only that, because of our nature now, we rightfully deserve His displeasure with all of the awful effects: pain, disease, and death.
Our beginning parents, Adam and Eve, had everything. Unlike us, they did not have to worry about thinking bad things about their friends or relatives, or even someone they didn’t know. Unlike us, they did not have to worry about the conflicting thoughts that run through our heads when we first meet someone. And, unlike us, they did not have to worry about SARS, cancer, leukemia, traffic accidents or even the common cold. They did not even have to worry about the Ten Commandments, because they would never have had the evil thoughts within them or the influence of others around them to give them a chance to break the commandments.
Yet, due to the free will of man or man’s liberty to make choices, man chose the way of destruction. Whether you want to believe it or not, whether you want to accept it or not, when born, man is under the Divine displeasure of God. This is shown daily by almost every action carried out in our sinful thoughts and lives. We need God!
What is the beginning? Do not think of the beginning as something that was passed down from Adam, because, in your sinful state you will rationalize that you are not to blame for Adam and Eve’s sin and ultimately this will lead you to not only you rejecting God, but, more importantly, Him rejecting you. You should rather think of it this way, “whether it was Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Elijah or you, one of us would have ultimately have eaten the fruit and sin would have entered the world because of the free will of man”, therefore I am sinful. Why then, you ask, did God give man free will if He knew man was going to sin? Because God did not want robots! But, more importantly, Because God works everything according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), His thoughts are beyond my thoughts; His ways are God’s ways and not mine to counter or to question with meaningless rhetoric that has its basis in my questioning the almighty God (who are you, oh man?).
Man would have made the choice of eating the fruit whether Satan was allowed to be involved or not! Adam or Eve would have rationalized to each other that the fruit was good for eating and they would have done it anyway. That is why God began His reconciling the world to Himself before the creation of the world!
Before the creation of the world!
1 Peter 1:17-20 “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
Reconciling the world
2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Why do WE need the way?
You can’t get there from here! Oh, we think we know the way. We think we have all the answers, but, as we said earlier, these are answers that limit us to the confines of this temporal world that will ultimately pass away. POOOF! You are but a mist, here one day and gone the next.
You’ve often heard the joke that men will never publicly ask for directions, especially in front of their wives! So, in keeping within the confines of this assumption, men will wander or drive around until (1) they finally reach the destination, or, (2) become frustrated and give up, or, (3) humble themselves and ask someone the way.
Why do we need the way? Because you can’t get there from here on your own!
Every so often there is a self-help book or new group that emerges that starts a trend, fad, or craze. And, yes this happens in churches, too! People boldly profess that they’ve found the way to lose weight fast, to get to the top faster, or, to rise to such a metaphysical plane that you are beyond everyone around you. All mans’ leading and teaching leads to attaining something on this world. And if they claim that it is a way to place beyond this world, then it’s usually through someone that is either still on this world or has died and we can go and dig up his bones! (You can’t do that with Jesus, AMEN?)
Here are some examples of some of man’s teachings that I’ve encountered (what was interesting? I couldn’t copy this information with cut and paste but had to type it word for word, hmmm, what’s the fear?):
Transcendental Meditation
The TM Remedy calls on us to look within ourselves for the answers to our problems. I’m sorry, I already know myself and I know that nothing good is in me! Here’s what they say on their web site:
The Transcendental Meditation program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is the single most effective meditation technique available for gaining deep relaxation, eliminating stress, promoting health, increasing creativity and intelligence, and attaining inner happiness and fulfillment. (7 February, http://www.tm.org)
Heaven’s Gate
The Heaven’s Gate people want us to believe that we can get to the “Kingdom of Heaven” by having a ‘boarding pass’ on a spacecraft that is to arrive to take us from the ‘level above human’ to ‘their world.’ They also want us to believe that they (those that are lucky enough that is) are graduating from the human evolutionary level.
Moonies
Rather than talk about it, let’s let Moon tell us whom he is. This is from a speech he gave, and appeared in Today’s World; April 1995, p.6.
“Am I foolish and insignificant or am I great? I gave all the individuals in the world cause to kneel down in front of me… I served the famous professors and scholars, and eventually they learned that the Reverend Moon is superior to them. Even Nobel laureate academics who thought they were at the center of knowledge are as nothing in front of me.”
Like I said asked before, why do we need the way? Because (Matthew 7:13) “…wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through”
God’s Salvation Church (GSC)
Cult claims God will appear in a flying saucer,
CNN, March 19, 1998
GARLAND, Texas -- The 150 members of God’s Salvation Church, sold everything back home in Taiwan and moved to Garland because they say it sounds like "God’s land." In anticipation of God’s arrival on Earth, the cultists have built what they say is a spacecraft using five radial tires, some plywood and a few lamp posts. They also have prepared a shrine with fruit, cola and crackers, and they spend their time in prayer to get ready for the end of the month, when they claim God will show up at 3513 Ridgedale Drive to save mankind from nuclear war. The cult’s leader, known to members as Teacher Chen, is a 41-year-old former social sciences professor. Chen believes that God will first appear on Channel 18 on television sets worldwide at midnight on March 24. Chen also says that on March 31 at 10 a.m., God will take the form of a human being. And, who would that be? That would be Chen himself. The cult leader says that if God does not show up on March 31, he and his followers will not commit suicide, like the 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult did a year ago. However, Chen says that if God does not show up in Garland, he will make himself available for stoning or crucifixion -- and his followers will be free to pack up and go home. And, he adds, everyone will be able to regard the cult’s beliefs as nonsense.
Needless to say, the above-mentioned cults are utter nonsense to the believer in Christ. However, to the non-believer (abused, homeless, runaway, sick, dying)they are dangerous and they prey on man’s desire to make himself better or on his desire to attain something through his own power. Boil it down and it is simply man trying to make the way to eternal life for himself.
Thus, the persistence of the various religions throughout the world should be a very poignant reminder that man has within himself a desire to know [a] God! Where does that desire come from? Where does this supernatural pursuing penchant to know God come from? It is placed within each one of us by our Creator, the Lord God Himself.
It’s starting to be clearer now, isn’t it, you know, that question “Why do we need the way?”
Why do we NEED THE WAY?
Every road, every street has intersections, dead ends, and mix-masters that are confusing to say the least. One might think that it is like that with God’s way, but it doesn’t have to be!
Jesus tells us in scripture (Matthew 7:14 & Matthew 11:30), that the way to life is narrow, yet He says that [His] burden is light.
We need the way! We need the way, His way, to (1) find the way to life and (2) to enjoy the life (light burden).
(1) Find the way to life.
How do we find the way to life? How, in a world filled with cults, covetousness and cravings for what we can’t have do we find the way to life? By putting our faith in Jesus Christ.
How can we be assured that His way is the way to life? Because the Bible has been proved over and over and over again, but that’s not all, for when we do make that decision, finally, we know that it was the right decision. We know that because we experience His rest, His peace and His joy in hearts!
(2) Enjoy the life (light burden)
When we have the way to life in our HIS hands, nothing can remove the joy and peace that we have within ourselves. Troubles will come and go, but joy and peace will remain, and a life of enjoyment will unfold before us as we follow the way.
Summary
The way is before each one of us. Many people will reject the way because they choose to accept the teachings of the world, rather than the teaching of God. Ironically, many people have chosen and will continue to choose to accept that which they have to work for, or to pay for, or to even kill for. But that is not what Jesus teaches. He teaches that the way to God is through Him, and that He paid it all. He teaches that salvation, though found in no one else, is free for all that desires to come unto Him.
So, is it any wonder that Jesus said to Thomas, (and the rest), in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”?
Introduction
Have you ever noticed that in most cities, or towns or villages, there are no roads named after God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit?
As I begin this “Way to Jerusalem” series, I experienced a number of thoughts concerning roads, streets, paths, alleys, tracks, causeways, expressways, sidewalks, crosswalks, overpasses, and even, yes, animal paths. The world is crisscrossed with ever kind of path imaginable. And, every path must have a beginning and an end. So, is it any wonder that Jesus said to Thomas, (and the rest), in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”?
Many people enjoy traveling. Some cultures enjoy it more than others, while in some countries, certain days of the year are famous for millions of people traveling or leaving their current place of residence and going and visiting their parents, their hometowns, or gravesites of ancestors. Every journey that is begun by these people follows a path, a road, a street, or more simply put it follows a way from beginning to end. Without a way there would be no arriving at the final destination.
There are three points in this message:
1. Why do we need the way?
2. Why do WE need the way?
3. Why do we need the way?
Why do we need the way?
When God created man, He created man with a free will. Meaning, He created Him with the capacity to think for himself, to make his own decisions or choices. But, there was ONE stipulation. In Genesis 2:17, God told Adam, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
So much liberty was given to one man. There was no pain, disease, or death, and, man was able to SEE God in His true image and true form.
God told Adam, that if he was to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, that he would be dead in his dying. In other words, he would die spiritually and ultimately die physically, but while dying, he would experience the dying. Confusing? It shouldn’t be. God tells us that the way it once was, (i.e. no pain, no death, but most importantly, face to face fellowship with God) would cease.
God initially gave man the way, with a free will and we should never set up our free will against the holy will of God.
The Everlasting way (eternal life) was in man’s hands from the beginning, and now it is not. In order to claim it for ourselves we must follow His way!
Transgression against God has forfeited our right to our Maker’s favor and we have on our heads, His displeasure. But, not only that, because of our nature now, we rightfully deserve His displeasure with all of the awful effects: pain, disease, and death.
Our beginning parents, Adam and Eve, had everything. Unlike us, they did not have to worry about thinking bad things about their friends or relatives, or even someone they didn’t know. Unlike us, they did not have to worry about the conflicting thoughts that run through our heads when we first meet someone. And, unlike us, they did not have to worry about SARS, cancer, leukemia, traffic accidents or even the common cold. They did not even have to worry about the Ten Commandments, because they would never have had the evil thoughts within them or the influence of others around them to give them a chance to break the commandments.
Yet, due to the free will of man or man’s liberty to make choices, man chose the way of destruction. Whether you want to believe it or not, whether you want to accept it or not, when born, man is under the Divine displeasure of God. This is shown daily by almost every action carried out in our sinful thoughts and lives. We need God!
What is the beginning? Do not think of the beginning as something that was passed down from Adam, because, in your sinful state you will rationalize that you are not to blame for Adam and Eve’s sin and ultimately this will lead you to not only you rejecting God, but, more importantly, Him rejecting you. You should rather think of it this way, “whether it was Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Elijah or you, one of us would have ultimately have eaten the fruit and sin would have entered the world because of the free will of man”, therefore I am sinful. Why then, you ask, did God give man free will if He knew man was going to sin? Because God works everything according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), His thoughts are beyond my thoughts; His ways are God’s ways and not mine to counter or to question with meaningless rhetoric that has its basis in my questioning the almighty God (who are you, oh man?).
Man would have made the choice of eating the fruit whether Satan was allowed to be involved or not! Adam or Eve would have rationalized to each other that the fruit was good for eating and they would have done it anyway. That is why God began His reconciling the world to Himself before the creation of the world!
Before the creation of the world!
1 Peter 1:17-20 “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
Reconciling the world
2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Why do we need the way?
You can’t get there from here! Oh, we think we know the way. We think we have all the answers, but, as we said earlier, these are answers that limit us to the confines of this temporal world that will ultimately pass away. POOOF! You are but a mist, here one day and gone the next.
You’ve often heard the joke that men will never publicly ask for directions, especially in front of their wives! So, in keeping within the confines of this assumption, men will wander or drive around until (1) they finally reach the destination, or, (2) become frustrated and give up, or, (3) humble themselves and ask someone the way.
Why do we need the way? Because you can’t get there from here on your own!
Every so often there is a self-help book or new group that emerges that starts a trend, fad, or craze. And, yes this happens in churches, too! People boldly profess that they’ve found the way to lose weight fast, to get to the top faster, or, to rise to such a metaphysical plane that you are beyond everyone around you. All mans’ leading and teaching leads to attaining something on this world. And if they claim that it is a way to place beyond this world, then it’s usually through someone that is either still on this world or has died and we can go and dig up his bones! (You can’t do that with Jesus, AMEN?)
Here are some examples of some of man’s teachings that I’ve encountered (what was interesting? I couldn’t copy this information with cut and paste but had to type it word for word, hmmm, what’s the fear?):
Transcendental Meditation
The TM Remedy calls on us to look within ourselves for the answers to our problems. I’m sorry, I already know myself and I know that nothing good is in me! Here’s what they say on their web site:
The Transcendental Meditation program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is the single most effective meditation technique available for gaining deep relaxation, eliminating stress, promoting health, increasing creativity and intelligence, and attaining inner happiness and fulfillment. (7 February, http://www.tm.org)
Heaven’s Gate
The Heaven’s Gate people want us to believe that we can get to the “Kingdom of Heaven” by having a ‘boarding pass’ on a spacecraft that is to arrive to take us from the ‘level above human’ to ‘their world.’ They also want us to believe that they (those that are lucky enough that is) are graduating from the human evolutionary level.
Moonies
Rather than talk about it, let’s let Moon tell us whom he is. This is from a speech he gave, and appeared in Today’s World; April 1995, p.6.
“Am I foolish and insignificant or am I great? I gave all the individuals in the world cause to kneel down in front of me… I served the famous professors and scholars, and eventually they learned that the Reverend Moon is superior to them. Even Nobel laureate academics who thought they were at the center of knowledge are as nothing in front of me.”
Like I said asked before, why do we need the way? Because (Matthew 7:13) “…wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through”
God’s Salvation Church (GSC)
Cult claims God will appear in a flying saucer,
CNN, March 19, 1998
GARLAND, Texas -- The 150 members of God’s Salvation Church, sold everything back home in Taiwan and moved to Garland because they say it sounds like "God’s land." In anticipation of God’s arrival on Earth, the cultists have built what they say is a spacecraft using five radial tires, some plywood and a few lamp posts. They also have prepared a shrine with fruit, cola and crackers, and they spend their time in prayer to get ready for the end of the month, when they claim God will show up at 3513 Ridgedale Drive to save mankind from nuclear war. The cult’s leader, known to members as Teacher Chen, is a 41-year-old former social sciences professor. Chen believes that God will first appear on Channel 18 on television sets worldwide at midnight on March 24. Chen also says that on March 31 at 10 a.m., God will take the form of a human being. And, who would that be? That would be Chen himself. The cult leader says that if God does not show up on March 31, he and his followers will not commit suicide, like the 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult did a year ago. However, Chen says that if God does not show up in Garland, he will make himself available for stoning or crucifixion -- and his followers will be free to pack up and go home. And, he adds, everyone will be able to regard the cult’s beliefs as nonsense.
Needless to say, the above-mentioned cults are utter nonsense to the believer in Christ. However, to the non-believer they are dangerous and prey on man’s desire to make himself better or on his desire to attain something through his own power. Boil it down and it is simply man trying to make the way to eternal life for himself.
Thus, the persistence of cults should be a very poignant reminder that man has within himself a desire to know God! Where does that desire come from? Where does the supernatural pursuing penchant come from? It is placed within each one of us by our Creator, the Lord God Himself.
It’s starting to be clearer now, isn’t it, you know, that question “Why do we need the way?”
Why do we need the way?
Every road, every street has intersections, dead ends, and mix-masters that are confusing to say the least. One might think that it is like that with God’s way, but it doesn’t have to be!
Jesus tells us in scripture (Matthew 7:14 & Matthew 11:30), that the way to life is narrow, yet He says that [His] burden is light.
We need the way! We need the way, His way, to (1) find the way to life and (2) to enjoy the life (light burden).
(1) Find the way to life.
How do we find the way to life? How, in a world filled with cults, covetousness and cravings for what we can’t have do we find the way to life? By putting our faith in Jesus Christ.
How can we be assured that His way is the way to life? Because the Bible has been proved over and over and over again, but that’s not all, for when we do make that decision, finally, we know that it was the right decision. We know that because we experience His rest, His peace and His joy in hearts!
(2) Enjoy the life (light burden)
When we have the way to life in our HIS hands, nothing can remove the joy and peace that we have within ourselves. Troubles will come and go, but joy and peace will remain, and a life of enjoyment will unfold before us as we follow the way.
Summary
The way is before each one of us. Many people will reject the way because they choose to accept the teachings of the world, rather than the teaching of God. Ironically, many people have chosen and will continue to choose to accept that which they have to work for, or to pay for, or to even kill for. But that is not what Jesus teaches. He teaches that the way to God is through Him, and that He paid it all. He teaches that salvation, though found in no one else, is free for all that desires to come unto Him.
So, is it any wonder that Jesus said to Thomas, (and the rest), in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”?
